President wins as appeals court revisits Obamacare case

By Russ Britt

The Obama administration got what it wanted Thursday when a District of Columbia appeals court decided to rehear the case that threatened to strip away a large chunk of funding for the Affordable Care Act.

Bloomberg

A full committee of judges will hear the case known as Halbig v. Burwell, as requested by the Department of Health and Human Services, effectively withdrawing a July ruling by a three-judge panel within the same D.C. court.

Two of those three judges ruled that Obamacare subsidies should be de-funded in states that have not set up their own health exchanges, which is nearly half the nation.

The D.C. appeals court is comprised of 17 judges. Reports say the judges will rehear the matter Dec. 17.

The July ruling shook up a number of those who thought Obamacare was in the clear regarding legal challenges. Plaintiff Jacqueline Halbig, a senior policy adviser to HHS under former President George W. Bush, contends the ACA explicitly states that subsidies for Obamacare health-insurance policies are available only in states that have set up their own exchanges — 27 states plus the District of Columbia. Residents in non-exchange states would not be eligible.

The administration, arguing for defendant and HHS Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell, says the three-judge panel adopted a narrow reading of the law and contends that the plaintiffs’ case simply is part of an ongoing effort to gut Obamacare. They point to another similar ruling from a Virginia appeals court, made just hours after the D.C. ruling, that went in favor of Burwell and the administration.

Whether this case will make it to the Supreme Court is unclear. There are several cases making the same challenge to Obamacare, and justices may want to settle the issue once and for all. But if a full panel of D.C. judges can make a comprehensive ruling that overturns its three-judge panel, and if all other lower courts rule in favor of the administration, then justices may be unwilling to step into the matter.

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